Writing an Informative Essay Comparing Two Periods of Time — Unit test Answers

Read the excerpt from The Land. "Whoa there, Wind," I said softly as I tried to get near the stallion. "It's me, boy. It's Paul." I extended my hand slowly. "Let me take a look at you now. It’s all right. It's all right." The stallion pulled back at first. I kept talking, and he finally allowed me to touch him. He whinnied just a bit, and I patted him gingerly, trying to make him know me; then, when he was still, I took a closer look at his leg. There was a bad tear along his right foreleg, and there were scratches from the branches that had ripped along his sleek white coat. The scratches I knew would heal, but I wasn't sure about the leg. The way Ghost Wind had pulled back, I feared a ligament might be torn or even his leg fractured. "He all right?" asked Mitchell, on his feet now. Without looking at him, I shook my head. "Don't know. We got to get him back to the barn." "Your daddy's gonna kill me," he said solemnly, yet with no fear in his voice, just a voice of matter of fact.

Read the student draft about The Land, Part 3.In part 3 of The Land by Mildred D. Taylor, Paul learns that he will study carpentry in the fall, while Robert will attend a boys’ school. Paul is concerned that these plans will threaten his closeness to his brother. He says, "We knew, too, our daddy figured sending us off to school was what was best; still I couldn't help but feel something was being wedged between Robert and me.”

Read this excerpt from The Land.Eventually there came the time on a late summer afternoon just before my twelfth birthday when folks came to visit and it was my mama, not my daddy, who ordered me to the kitchen. Robert was now expected to stay at my daddy’s table, and no amount of protest on his part changed that. My mama set a lone plate for me on the sideboard in the kitchen. That was truly the first time I felt unwanted in my daddy’s family. My daddy hadn’t even bothered to tell me himself not to sit at his table. He had left that to my mama, and I resented not only him for it, but her too.

Read the excerpt from The Land, Part 4.You could get thrown, you could get run over; in either case possibly get yourself seriously hurt. No, I’m not about to let you ride any horses except the ones we brought here.”"Well, I still say I’ve got a right to decide what I ride and for who. I’m not your slave anymore.”I remember my daddy got real quiet. If I just hadn’t added that last bit, maybe he would have taken the time to talk more to me. Now his mind closed. "Makes no difference about that. I’m still your daddy, and you’re still a boy with a boy’s judgment. I say no about a thing, then it’s finished.”

Which sentence is the most vivid?

Read the passage.In the late 1800s, long-distance communication was difficult. Though there was a postal service, it was slow and unreliable. Letters could take many weeks or even months to travel cross country. Quickly reaching a faraway loved one in an emergency was only possible via the electric telegraph, which was not available to everyone. Today, Americans communicate freely, inexpensively, and frequently over all distances with cell phones and computers. Friends and family, no matter how distant, are only a push of a button away.

Which excerpt from The Land contains descriptive narration?

Read this excerpt from The Land.Robert’s grandma on his mama’s side always hated the fact that my daddy allowed Cassie and me to sit at his table and enjoy the life she felt was owed only to her daughter’s children. When the daughter died, her mother was there in my daddy’s house. Of course, I was only a baby at the time, but later I grew to know her hatred. She had stayed on in my daddy’s house and took over running it. I remember she was always hard on my mama, and on Cassie and me. When my daddy was away during mealtime, she would send Cassie and me from the table. When that happened, Robert always went with me, and she couldn’t make him come back. Worse than that, she would sometimes say cruel things to us. "They’re like mites,” she said once. "You get them in your bed, and you don’t ever get rid of them.”

How is Paul and Mitchell’s conflict with the injured stallion resolved in The Land, Part 2?

Read the excerpt from The Land."Cassie, you know 'bout Mitchell?" I asked her."Course I know about Mitchell," she answered. "Why're you letting him beat up on you?""I'm not letting him!" I exclaimed in outrage. "You thinking I'm liking him beating up on me?""Well, if you're not, you'd better make him stop.""Well, I'm trying.""Well, you'd better try harder.""I've tried fighting back, but he's too strong. Thing is, I don't know how to stop him."

To analyze how historical setting is important to the characters in The Land, the reader should look for

Read this student draft about The Land, Part 2In part 2 of The Land by Mildred D. Taylor, Paul covers for Mitchell by taking the blame for Mitchell’s mistake. This brings the two together. Paul explains, "Mitchell nodded, and that was as close as Mitchell Thomas came to thanking me and as close as I came to accepting his thanks. But after that, things began to change between Mitchell and me.”

Which sentence accurately uses the homophone “affect”?

Which sentence accurately uses the homophone “stationary”?

Read the student draft about The Land, Part 4.In part 4 of The Land by Mildred D. Taylor, Paul, Mitchell, and Paul’s father go to East Texas. Paul successfully rides a horse to win a wager for his father, but he is upset by how his father treats him. He voices his frustration when he says, "Well, you didn't tell that man from Alabama anything about you being my daddy, just that I was 'your boy'! Figure that says more than anything else!”